Keith Arnold

Before the Irish break for the holiday and set off to Palo Alto, Brian Kelly took some time to talk with the media and get everyone up to speed on injuries, Stanford, his Thanksgiving plans, and what the Irish need to do to spring an upset on No. 4 Stanford. As usual, the guys at…

After nearly three months of being the favorite, the Irish finally get to try their hand as an underdog. That’s how Brian Kelly‘s troops find themselves as they prepare to head to Palo Alto on Saturday, ready to take on the No. 4 Stanford Cardinal, led by All-Universe quarterback Andrew Luck. Leaving Luck — all…

At this time of year, no football team is entirely healthy. (Just ask the guys in Palo Alto.) But as the Irish head into their final — and most important — game of the year, let’s take a look at the positional depth chart and see just how well the Irish are hanging on. Brian…

The scene is the locker room was far from what you’d expect after a final home victory in Notre Dame Stadium. With his college career ending on a note he never thought possible just hours before, Jonas Gray addressed his teammates, emotionally imploring them to finish the job this season, even if he wouldn’t be…

For all the bellyaching that’s followed the Irish’s imperfect 16-14 victory over Boston College, a chaotic Saturday in the college football world should’ve given people plenty of reminders that no victory should be assumed and simply surviving is sometimes accomplishment enough. That was No. 8 Virginia Tech surviving a fourth quarter rally by mediocre North…

Senior Day will always be bittersweet. But Saturday’s home finale was also cruel, with the Irish’s 16-14 victory over Boston College overshadowed by the loss of senior running back Jonas Gray. Gray — one of the great surprises of the 2011 season, coming from nowhere to becoming the Irish’s most dangerous rusher — was tackled…

On paper, this game looks as lopsided as any the Irish have played. But with Boston College coming to town and emotions running high on Senior Day, anything can happen this afternoon as the Eagles and the Irish battle. That the Irish have already lost three games and are most likely out of BCS contention…

As a large group of Notre Dame seniors head onto the field for the last time, there’s been an awful lot of good work done to document the event. Before we get to the live blog, let’s get everyone up to speed on some of the great articles that were written in the last day…

Close your eyes and you might have missed it. After an opening to the season that can only be described as bizarre, Notre Dame has righted the ship, won seven of their last eight games, and is closing in on the end of the 2011 season. For eight graduate students and 30 seniors, this could…

If rivalries were measured by the excellence of snarky t-shirts generated by students and fans, the Notre Dame-Boston College match-up would be up there with the best rivalries in all of college football. When the Eagles come to town, a fanbase with an awful lot of similarities joins them, and the result is the kind…

Meeting with the media after practice yesterday, Brian Kelly got back on the hamster wheel and brought us more of the same. “We’re in the midst of pretty boring times for all you folks,” Kelly said. “It’s preparation and doing the things we need to do each and every week. Making sure we stay on…

Just shy of ten years from the day he was dismissed as the head coach of Notre Dame, Bob Davie will be heading back to the sidelines, accepting the head coaching position at New Mexico. Davie replaces Mike Locksley, who failed to last three seasons amidst a turbulent run in Albuquerque that included sexual harassment…

Some rivalries mean a little bit more. When Notre Dame and Boston College take the field, the game isn’t likely to garner national headlines or bring ESPN to town. But the “Holy War” has been filled with memorable moments, with most of them featuring the Eagles tripping up an Irish squad — sometimes on the…

It wasn’t exactly under the radar, but on the official Facebook page of Notre Dame Football, they gave away a Shamrock Series Promo Box, a limited edition collectors item that would’ve turned your opinion on last weekend’s uniforms pretty quickly. The beautifully designed treasure chest — only eleven were made and designed by Adidas —…

Crazy as it seems, the Irish are preparing for their final home game this weekend, with Boston College coming to town. As he does every week, Brian Kelly met with the assembled media, who offered some pretty standard fare this week. But there should be nothing standard about a game against Boston College, a rivalry…

Both Michael Floyd and Tyler Eifert have been named semifinalists for positional awards, with Floyd among ten semifinalists for the Biletnikoff Award and Eifert among eight for the Mackey Award. In alphabetical order, here are the ten semifinalists for the Biletnikoff Award, given annually to the nation’s top college receiver: Keenan Allen, Cal Justin Blackmon,…

It took a while, but the Irish are finally back in the national polls, checking in at No. 24 in the AP rankings and No. 25 in the coaches poll. It’s nothing that’ll get anybody too excited, but the Irish are one of only four three-loss teams ranked, joining Florida State, Baylor and West Virginia…

In case you didn’t know, Notre Dame’s trip to the nation’s capital had nothing to do about football. Just ask athletic director Jack Swarbrick. “In many ways the motivation for all this has virtually nothing to do with football,” Swarbrick said. “What we want to do is expose more people to Notre Dame. With two…

Another week, another night game for the Irish, though this venue is certainly a little bit different from the rest. With shamrocks on the side of their helmets, green jerseys with gold undershirts, the Irish take to FedEx Field ready to win their seventh game of the season. As usual, you can follow the game…

With thousands of Irish fans descending on the National Mall last night (check out the awesome photos from Notre Dame’s website) the Irish are done with the pomp and circumstance and ready to take on Randy Edsall’s Maryland team tonight at 7:30 p.m. ET on NBC. Here are a couple quick notes before getting to…

The Baltimore Sun decided to put it less gently, renaming the Shamrock Series the Ugly Helmet Bowl, with the Irish donning new shamrock and gold helmets and Maryland once again bringing out their Maryland Pride uniforms. (SBNation took their disdain to the next level.) But ascetics aside, Saturday night’s game is another critical game for…

It appears that Steve Filer‘s career at Notre Dame is over. One of the Irish’s best athletes appeared to suffer a career-ending knee injury at practice on Wednesday during a one-on-one pass rushing drill, robbing Filer of the final four games of his Irish career. “We’re probably going to lose him for the year. It…

There are rumors flying all over the internet that Notre Dame has received the commitment of Gunner Kiel, one of the nation’s top quarterbacks. Kiel was an early target of the Irish before he committed to Indiana and new head coach Kevin Wilson, where he planned to join his brother Dusty in the depth chart.…

It’s been a weird week. Apologies for maybe coming up a little short on columns this week, but I’ve just been transfixed to the situation evolving in Happy Valley. What a sad state of affairs, and it makes it pretty difficult to get excited about a football game when you’re watching a horrific scandal that’s…

It hasn’t exactly been smooth sailing for Randy Edsall in his first year at Maryland. After Terrapins brass decided to say goodbye to former head coach Ralph Friedgen after one of the most impressive runs in the program history, it looked as if the Terps were on a collision course with former Texas Tech coach…